American football debate time! English people shall be lost in this whole thread!
I hate the Saints, what a lowlife team! Everyone knows their coach pays the referees, but what are you going to do? At least that the horrible city has an ounce of inspiration, even it will only last for a couple months.
And Tessa, it’s not too soon, it’s been 5 years.

One of the guests at our Superbowl party last night, made up almost entirely of Saints fans, said the same thing as “Joshua” (about another Katrina coming around and wiping them out.) I’ve never seen someone tackled by so many people, even in a football game.

@ Mykl42
Your paycheck could change.
A little Super Bowl bet with your boss could rake in the cash.

It’s a matter of bragging rights. Sometimes a win from Ohio State in college football (home state) or a win from Ghana’s soccer team in the World Cup (home country) gets me hyped like you wouldn’t believe. I assume it’s similar to other people.

What if you want the city of New Orleans wiped out and it has nothing to do with football? I mean they live below water, near a coast and have annual huricanes… Just sounds like darwinism can clear a lot of space in a hurry

Have fun with your oh-so-original hurricane jokes while we’re partying non-stop, coasting from the Saints win into Mardi Gras. And unfortunately, slimjayz, Darwinism doesn’t work like that. If you want a certain locale of people wiped out, that’s called Social Darwinism. And you’d be called Hitler.

Joshua is angry! Holy shit! Just cause your team sucks doesn’t mean the other team played dirty. My team sucks but you don’t see me posting on my Facebook that the opposing team should die. Go kill yourself Joshua

@Rachael
Totally agree with you.We will definitely be partying down here well into & after Mardi Gras & Joshua is a dick.Anyone who would wish death on innocent people because “their” football team lost needs the hell beat out of them.I understand being upset because your team lost but that is just ridiculous.

@Penny Lane…yep..I watched the Superbowl just because but, I just can’t imagine plunking down $5000 to hoot and holler while 22 millionaires play a game, albeit at a high level. Can’t imagine my happiness rising and falling over a ball being dropped or crossing a line of chalk..unless I’M playing and the accomplishment is MY accomplishment.

Josh can go fuck himself. I was living in New Orleans during Katrina and while I had enough sense to evacuate I lost everything due to the flood. I spent weeks wondering where my friends were who didn’t make it out. A couple of people I know fucking DIED. And here this callous asshole is saying that another natural disaster should wipe us out because our team beat his in the superbowl. What a fucking douchebag.

He obviously doesn’t understand what we all went thought to get our lives back together. Talk shit about New Orleans all you want, but leave Katrina out of it. That’s fucking low, dude.

If I’m correct in my assumption about everyone’s rage, I think it’s all about the fact that the Saints chose to do an onside kick, rather than run the ball upfield, and ….can’t remember his name from the Colts, couldn’t get a handle on the ball, leaving it back in the Saints’ hands, which, effectively, allowed them to come back and win the game.

In my opinion, it was a great play! My boyfriend and father don’t feel the same though, and are equally as mad as Joshua here.

Mykl42, people cheer for a certain football team because for they somehow feel associated with that team. When the team does well you feel like you’ve done well. It’s the same as being proud of your children, or your school, or your city, or your country when do something well and you feel like they represent you. Somebody like me might think “if I was talented enough I would play for that team but I’m not – because those guy who are on the team are so damn good. And they beat the guys on your team who are obviously better than you. So I just might be better than you.”

I don’t have a problem with not caring for any team – but I do think it’s kind of sad if somebody can’t understand it and are only able to be proud of something they do themselves. That’s like saying you couldn’t be proud of your children for anything they accomplish.

A city or a football team are nothing like a child. A child’s accomplishment can (not always) actually reflect the effectiveness of the parent, while that same parent is just another consumer of the team’s product and merchandise. They’re not returning any love for that 75 dollar hoodie you bought at the stadium. There’s no real vital reason to go crazy over any specific sports team. Chances are that only 2 or 3 players are actually from that city. It’s the same thing as nationalism, it’s just something to separate people even more. I’ve actually met people at bars who’ve stopped talking to me as soon as they find out what city I’m from, and I’m not even a sports fan! I lived in philly for 2 years and I actually saw SOBER individuals get into fist-fights over who’s team is better. What exactly are they fighting over?

We , the people from the old continent that is call it football not soccer. We have every right to do so cause this is our game and we invented it ..

You think people get worked up about american football ? Come and watch a game of football in Europe , preferably Holland , france, Portugal or England. Then you’ll see how serious a ball game can be for fans. I went to some games in the States and everything is very friendly with mostly home fans in the stadion and few cops. In europe almost every football game is haunted by an immense police force to stop the crowd from fighting. That’s very stupid in my book , i feel passionatly about my team and do really hate our rival fans but to start a brawl over a squad of overpayed underintelligent players is just beyond me ..

Starting brawls with cops on the other hand is a nice way to spend your saturday evenings.

People’s insane obsession with football (when I say football I guess I mean this and the game you call soccer that we play here) really bugs me. People here will go crazy during matches, they’ll be insanely pissed off if they lose, and incredibly happy if they win.

People here have picked teams at random, not based on where they come from. I live in Wales, and I don’t know a single person who supports a Welsh team, just teams from ranom English towns.

The debate between whether soccer or football is better is inane; hockey is obviously superior to all other sports.

Also, I’m one of these rabid sports fans you are discussing. I’ve been a Pittsburgh Penguins fan since I can remember, and have watched every game they have played for the last three years. I do not do this because I feel I am obligated to watch my team, but because I honestly enjoy it.

So you have to understand why people are so upset when their team loses: they spent countless hours watching their team, went through all of their ups and downs, and they feel as though they ARE a part of the team.

When Pittsburgh lost in the final a few years ago I was crushed. When they won last year I was ecstatic.

Note: I do not endorse the fans that are over the top insane, but people who start fights do so for many reasons, not just because their team lost. These same fans would probably start a fight over some other silly reason. We’re not all idiots.

What a stupid thing to say. Have you ever watched a game of NFL? It is 10 times the sport rugby is. Players wear pads because they are all massive and run at the pace of olympic sprinters, directly into each other from like 50 yards away. If they didn’t they would literally die. In rugby, the ball goes side to side and a bunch of fat wankers have a ruck over it without any real huge hits. Most of the time anyway.

At first, I wasn’t going to bother commenting on this, but being from New Orleans not being a huge Saints fan (I mean, Go Saints but I don’t get down with football) I am fucking disgusted with people and their derogatory words towards New Orleans as a whole. Don’t make jokes about any country, state, city, etc… it’s terrible karma and will come back to bite you in the asshole. And if you’re so terribly full of angst about it, bring your ass to NOLA so you really feel a ripped asshole. Fuck with the Saints all you want, they have their fans. Don’t fuck with NOLA.

On a straight football level: Sean Payton has the biggest, brassiest balls since God himself; he calls plays that make everyone wish they’d thought of it first and hate him for it. The entire team plays as one humble unit. The Saints don’t lack superstars due to lack of talent, they lack stars due to lack of ego. Don’t get pissy when your team can’t match twenty two touchdowns by twenty two different players and more defensive touchdowns than the Browns offense.

On a human level: Wishing for anything like Katrina is just… subhuman. Yeah, sure, let’s have another one and kill another thousand plus people in Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana. The media may have slobbered all over New Orleans, but Katrina was three hundred miles from eye wall to edge. She was six hundred miles in diameter and she was not picky about destroying anything in her reach.

On an intelligence level: It’s not smart to go pissing off the Who Dat Nation. The Who Dats backed the NFL down on its sniveling ass when it came sniffing around, and you are not special. You’re talking about men willing to parade down the street in dresses to honor a beloved sportscaster. You’re talking about a culture steeped deeply in traditions of people and places. You’re talking about a nation with a symbol that inspires faith and an irrational love. You’re talking about starting a war you cannot win.

Next time you boogie on down to New Orleans to eat her food, drink her beer, dance in her streets, and catch her beads, remember that she and her people have suffered long and hard under your labels of “loser” and “never gonna be”. This is her year, her time, and she will not take your shit any longer.